As It May Be: A Lesson in Joyfulness.

“You’re always chasing after things,” I remember him saying. “Slow down. Enjoy.”

He was an instructor of mine from Monterey, California. His eyes brimmed with an effortless wisdom, and his smile lent a certain air of knowing.

I had been telling him of my ‘plans’ – graduation, career, family. Though, first – top in my class. And, then? I would travel the world. Oh, and wasn’t I clever to consider such efforts, to seize this life on my own terms.

But, as we sat there alone on the stone garden bench, I could tell — he wasn’t at all impressed.

“There’s a woman who tends bonsai in a garden nearest the market. Did you know, several of her trees are nearly a century old?” He took a long, slow draw from a hand-carved pipe; it was a gift from one of his many former students.

He rose from the bench, then smiled and walked away. In spite of my boasts, I know now he could see my ‘wanderer within.’

And, sure enough – the next morning, I waited for hours outside her gate until the turning of tumblers alerted me to her arrival.

“I want to see the bonsai,” I said nearly breathless with anticipation. Overnight, it seemed, these tiny plants had grown to something far more magnificent of mind.

Over the weeks, then months, she showed me their care. Until I learned, imperfection is the greater beauty.

From the earliest age, we are taught to achieve; to place goal above the tender heart of appreciation. And from that she, we begin to lose our sense of wild-eyes wonderment. We miss the grace in the subtleties which surround.

“Slow down. Enjoy.”

My loves, it is only when we slow down to enjoy, that we may finally begin to cultivate that centuries old, lifelong inner peace.

Namaste ❤️

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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